Finally Home
by WitchyElphaba
Summary: Going home and explaining why he was gone and forgotten for a year is harder than Sora thinks. KHII spoilers.


**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts is property of Disney and Square Enix. I make no money off of this.

**Spoiler Warning:** I suggest you don't read this if you have not finished the series so far, seeing it kind of gives away the ending…well, enjoy!

* * *

**Finally Home**

_Thinking of you, wherever you are._

_We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend._

_Now I will step forward to realize this wish._

_And who knows: starting a new journey may not be so hard, or maybe it has already begun._

_There are many worlds, but they share the same sky- one sky, one destiny._

_-Kairi_

Clutching the letter, and his heart thumping hard and fast, Sora looked up as a sudden bright light lit the dark, black shores of the beach he and Riku sat on.

"Light…" Riku gazed at it.

"The door to light," Sora said. He stood up and offered his hand to his injured friend. "We'll go together!"

"Yeah," Riku nodded and took Sora's hand. They paused for a moment, knowing that the door could lead anywhere. Taking a breath, Sora stepped forward, Riku besides him, and closed his eyes against the blinding light.

Sora opened his eyes, and to his horror, realized he was underwater. He looked around, and was relieved to find the surface only a few feet above him. He swam up and broke the surface, gasping for air and shaking the water out of his hair and face. He looked for Riku, who broke the surface just behind him, then looked around, trying to find out where he was. Then he heard the most welcoming voice he could ever wish for: Kairi's.

"Sora!"

She stood on the shore of their beloved island, waving energetically at the two best friends.

With a cry of joy, Sora swam rapidly towards Kairi, with Riku right behind him. He felt his feet touch the familiar sandy bottom of the beach and wadded as fast as he could through the tropical water.

"_Almost there, Kairi…finally…!"_

He was just about to reach Kairi when he heard the familiar "uh-yuck!" chuckle and a quack-like laugh. Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey ran out from behind Kairi, leaping triumphantly into the air. Donald and Goofy launched themselves at Sora, who was thrown back into the shallows while the miniature King leaped at Riku, who caught and twirled him.

Sora hugged his two friends, unable to express his gratitude to them for their friendship, help and support.

Sora smiled up at Kairi through Donald and Goofy's hugs, and looked over at Riku, who was kneeling down next to the tiny but remarkably powerful King Mickey,. He turned back to Kairi, smiling somewhat sheepishly at her warm smile. He reached for his pocket, and pulled out Kairi's "lucky charm". His promise finally fulfilled, it was time to give it back.

Sora struggled to keep his tears in. "We're-we're back!"

Kairi held out her hand and gave Sora a gentle, loving smile.

"You're home."

Grinning widely, Sora placed the charm in her hand, not rushing himself to remove his hand from Kairi's.

¤

"_It's not that I don't enjoy being around them, I just need to see how this place is doing on my own,"_ Sora thought as he crawled through the bushes at the base of the large tree. He hurried through the tunnel, and stopped at the entrance of the Secret Place.

He felt a bit strange as he wandered around. It wasn't a bad strange: it was unexplainable. The last time he had been here, on the island, he was carefree, getting bumped, bruised and cut on innocent terms by Wakka, Tidus, Selphie and Riku. Now, he wondered what his time on the island would be like now.

He knew the people in the town would view him differently now (well, depending on what they hear), but he didn't care. He'd faced much deeper problems than what others thought of him.

"_They're probably gonna think I'm not the same, that I've changed. Well, I have, that's for sure, but I'm still Sora. It's not like I turned into a Heartless—er, well…at least I didn't come back as one…"_

Sora walked around, gazing at the carved drawings he, Riku and Kairi had scribbled on the stone. He smiled to himself as memories from the Secret Place came flashing back. He remembered the time when it had begun to rain while they were playing on the island, and Riku and Sora did their best to comfort Kairi, who was new to Destiny Islands and had never experienced such a thunder storm. He remembered when he and Riku argued over what they wanted to carve on the wall: them on a pirate ship, sailing off to find treasure, or them fighting a ferocious monster. The argument led to Riku throwing a small rock at Sora, leaving him with a chipped tooth that thankfully became loose and fell, with a new tooth replacing it.

Sora chuckled to himself. _"Being different and being changed is not the same thing. I've changed, but I'm not pretending to be someone else. I know they're gonna be shocked to see me and Riku back, but it'll all settle down soon enough."_

He wandered over to a corner of the Secret Place; near the base of what he now knew was the Keyhole to the Islands. He remembered the very last time he had been in here…

"…_If I win, uh…I'm captain! And if you win…"_

"_I get to share the paopu with Kairi."_

"_Huh?"_

He remembered how unsettled he had felt, but it was then that Sora had realized he had always taken Kairi for granted. He never realized the significance of her unexpected presence on the Islands; he was too young to understand it at the time.

After loosing that particular race to Riku, he realized he needed to tell Kairi, though exactly what, even he didn't know. Sora was relieved that Riku did not share a paopu with her (he instead proclaimed himself the captain of their raft), but was left slightly unnerved, and very anxious.

He had wandered back in here, remembering the time he and Kairi carved each others faces on the wall. He had sat down and spent quite some time just gazing at the faces. Then, he had taken a stone and added more to the carving: he carved himself giving Kairi a paopu, in hopes that he would really share one with her one day and have their hearts always intertwined with one another.

So Sora was surprised that there had been another addition to the carving. It showed a paopu being given to _him_.

Deep, caring warmth flowed through him as he looked at the carving. Sora sighed and smiled. He knew that they didn't need a real paopu to keep them together forever. The actions of the past year, even this small one, were enough to keep them inseparable.

¤

A few minutes later, Sora snuck back out, and found the rest near the shore. Sora hurried over to them.

"Where were you?" Riku demanded.

"Looking around," Sora mumbled. He turned towards King Mickey. "Well, what're we supposed to do now?"

"Welp, Goofy, Donald and I think it would only be right to escort you and Riku back to the main island. However, I personally must deliver Riku to his home: he didn't experience everything you did, Sora, and, well… I must help him explain to his parents," King Mickey explained.

Sora felt Riku shift uncomfortably besides him, and understood. Although both he and Riku left the Islands under similar circumstances, their journeys couldn't have been more different. Sora turned to Riku and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry, it'll be fine," he told Riku, but suddenly, he himself felt his stomach go hollow. How was _he_ going to explain himself to his parents?

The King looked at both of them. "Once I'm done explaining things to Riku's family, we'll join you Sora, and help both families better understand," he said, offering Sora an encouraging smile. "But first, we need to get off of here and onto the main Island"

"Uh… but how, your Majesty?" Donald asked, looking around.

Sora glanced lazily at the small dock, expecting to remember the boats he and his friends used to get to the Island, only to realize that there really was a boat docked there. And not just one boat: there were three.

"Um… what are they doing here?" Sora asked.

"Hm… were you here on this Island when it disappeared?" King Mickey asked.

"Yes. All three of us were."

"Well, when Sora sealed Kingdom Hearts and replaced the worlds to their original state, didn't everything go back to _exactly_ the way they were when they were consumed by darkness?" Goofy said. Sora gazed at him. Goofy sometimes did not realize his own brilliance.

"Well, if that's the case, then that explains it. No one else would have the time to take them back to the main Island, anyways, right?" Sora asked.

"I guess," said Riku.

They all headed towards the dock, but when they reached it, Kairi stopped walking and looked at the boats hesitantly. Sora looked back.

"What's wrong, Kairi?"

"There are only three boats. There're six of us," She explained. "Can we really fit in all of them?"

"We've got to give it a shot, don't we?" Goofy said.

And so, they carefully arranged themselves in the tiny rowboats. Kairi was still small enough to just fit in her boat, but Sora already felt cramped, and he couldn't imagine how Riku might feel, having grown about a foot in the year they were apart. Then top it off by adding another person in each boat, Sora was amazed his boat didn't sink right away the moment King Mickey stepped into it. He looked to his right and saw Goofy sitting opposite of Kairi, and Donald cramming himself into Riku's boat on his left. Precariously, the small fleet of wooden rowboats set off towards the main Island

Once they were just off shore of Sora's Island, Sora and Mickey heard a slightly sinister snicker and looked over to his left in time to see Donald tap Riku's boat with his staff. After a quick cast of the spell Aero, Sora watched in disbelief as Riku's boat shot off at a higher speed than his, with Riku laughing.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Sora shouted, huffing as he continued to paddle his way towards the Island.

Kairi giggled and Goofy, laughing, looked at the boat he was sitting in, wondering what he could do to speed up his own boat. A moment later, Goofy jumped into the water and swam behind the boat. Placing his feet against the back of the boat, Goofy began to spin his shield, as he did when he prepared to fling it at an enemy, and propelled Kairi's boat forward.

"Hey—hey wait!" Sora cried. He looked at King Mickey, who had an amused look. "Are we gonna catch up, or what?"

"We will, but take your time," the miniature King said. "Have you thought about what you're going to tell your parents?"

Sora stopped rowing, his face not sinking, but nonetheless losing some of its common brightness.

Now that he was going home, he couldn't feel help but feel guilty that he hadn't shown more concern on the whereabouts of his family.

"_But… my mom and dad are strong. There's no way they could've been turned into Heartless!"_

His mom was one of the nicest, most caring people he knew. She was also very stubborn. Not in a selfish way: she stood up to ensure the well-being of her son and husband. Although she didn't let every one of Sora's mischief bypass her (by the time Sora was five years old, he had lost count of the number of times he had been grounded), Sora knew how much she deeply loved him. How could somebody like _that _turn into a Heartless?

Then there was his dad. His dad was a bit more lenient on Sora, sometimes trying (and always failing), to help Sora out of a tight spot with his mom. He had often taken Sora on sailing trips around the Island, visiting the other floating pieces of land that made up the Destiny Islands, and had taught him to fish and swim. He had helped Sora make the small little rowboat he was currently floating on. His father couldn't have been turned into a Heartless either.

Needless to say, Sora knew he didn't have to worry about his parents as much as he worried about his friends, who were both very vulnerable at the time (he was too, anyways). He just wondered how much they missed him, and whether they had given up hope of his return.

Sora was brought back to his senses when he saw King Mickey jumping out onto the dock, joining Riku and Kairi, who had been watching his slow arrival with amusement, and Donald, who was drying off Goofy with a gentle spell of Fira.

"Took you long enough," Riku mused as Sora hopped onto the dock.

"At least I'm not lazy," Sora halfheartedly shot back. His eyes were fixed towards the direction of the buildings on the Island.

"Well, Sora, Riku, you lead the way," King Mickey said, urging the two teenage boys ahead of him. Both stood frozen. Kairi stepped in between them, and placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, the other on Riku's.

"It'll be okay. We're all here," she comfortably whispered.

Riku nodded. "Let's go." And he began to step forward. Sora, however, remained rooted to his spot.

"You know that the way home is through the Town Square. It's always crowded this time of day…" Everyone would watch as they approached, everyone would see that, at last, Sora and Riku, and Kairi, who had gone missing for a few days, had returned.

Gulping but holding his head high, Sora stepped forward, and the three adolescents led the three Visitors towards their home.

¤

Sora was only half-prepared to reunite with his parents again. He wasn't prepared at all for being reunited with the whole town.

The closer he got to the Town Square, the harder his heart beat. He glanced at Riku in time to see him lightly gulp. Sora wouldn't blame him if he was more nervous.

Then, they reached it. Teeming with people in the bright, summer afternoon, no one immediately noticed the odd group approach. Maybe, just maybe, they might be able to sneak their way through the crowd…

"I've got it man!" A huge boy lunged suddenly out of nowhere and crash-landed at Sora's feet, clutching a bouncy-looking ball. The boy grinned to himself with pride at his marvelous catch, when he caught sight of the teenagers looming over him. His expression turned into one of simple shock.

"No…way…"

He slowly stood up. Wakka now towered over Sora: he was probably Riku's height. He looked at Kairi, now understanding her recent disappearance. He looked at Riku, with his silver hair longer than ever, his face hidden by his bangs. Then he looked at Sora. Although he wasn't as tall as he and Riku were, he had grown and matured physically, there was no doubt about that. His hair remained wildly spiky, and his frame was still thin, but there was no doubt he had been active on his disappearance since he seemed a bit more muscular than he had been last time Wakka had seen him. His hair was a lighter shade of brown, no doubt sun-bleached, and his skin was a slight shade darker, no doubt sun-tanned.

Sora grinned sheepishly and raised a hand in greeting. He was about to speak when another familiar, yet now slightly different, voice approached them.

"Wakka, I've _told_ you not to play in the Square, you can hurt somebody-"

And Selphie, too, stopped and gazed in wonder.

"No…_way_…"

"Wakka, that was an awesome save! Don't listen to Selphie-"

And their final friend, Tidus, came hurrying out of the crowd.

"What're you two staring-" The blonde's blue eyes opened wide in shock as he caught sight of the strange group in front of him, mostly focusing on the three teenagers at he front of the group.

"_No…way…!"_

Unable to stand it, Kairi laughed and stepped forward. "Look who I brought home!" she exclaimed.

Another moment of complete silence followed, and then Sora found himself pinned beneath Wakka's arm, his hair being painfully rubbed.

"Where've you been, man?" Wakka exclaimed.

Riku laughed and accepted Selphie's hug and cries. "Where were you? We missed you so much!"

The teenagers and the strange-looking visitors now caught the attention of the people passing by. Any crowd would have bypassed the energetic cries of the teenagers, except four keywords drew their attention to them this time: the shouts of "Sora!" and "Riku" and "are back!" soon sent a hushed silence through the crowd, and they began to gaze at the two lost, now found, teenagers.

Sora sensed the eerie silence and quickly broke out of Selphie's hug. He looked around, and sensed hundreds of pairs of eyeballs focused on him and his companions. He heard words and phrases being passed swiftly through the crowd.

"Did they say _'Sora'_ and _'Riku'_?"

"I thought they were gone for good!"

"Where've they been all along?"

"Wow, look at Riku's _hair_..!"

"Who're those people with him?"

"Is that a _duck_?!"

"Is that a _mouse_?!_"_

"I can't believe it, Sora's back! Riku's here too!"

Sora had never heard his name so many times in one minute. He looked around, not sure what to do with his sort of attention. He looked at Riku, silently asking what to do now, when the crowd hushed again, no whispers for sure. Riku looked over Sora, and motioned behind him.

Before Sora could move, he heard another comforting voice, one that he sorely, deeply missed.

"S-Sora? Son?"

Sora turned slowly on the spot, and his eyes finally found him: the older version of himself.

"Dad…"

Sora's father stood rooted on the spot, staring at his now 15-year-old son. The older man shared the same skinny body, the same unruly hair. The hush in the Square was deafening now, as they watched the missing boy and his father gaze at each other from 15 feet apart.

Sora awkwardly stepped forward: he wasn't sure what to do. He suddenly remembered the time, over a year ago, when he had impaled himself with Riku's false keyblade to free Kairi's heart. He wasn't sure what would happen, and wasn't sure how to say "thank you, and goodbye" to Goofy and Donald. So he had settled for a wide, cheesy smile.

So once again, Sora gave a smile, though not as wide and cheesy as before, and found the courage to finally speak.

"I'm back, dad."

Father and son continued to stare at one another for a moment longer, then out of nowhere, both sprinted towards one another, and met in a tight, loving hug.

A year ago, Sora would have hated being seen in public hugging his dad this tightly- he hated it when his mom kissed him in front of Riku (although Riku never actually teased him about it). For this moment, though, Sora forgot about everything and everyone. He never thought he'd enjoy a hug from his father.

The crowd remained silent, but it was not as eerie as it was just moments ago. Welcoming warmth began to fill the Square, and Sora only parted from his father when somebody, way at the back of the crowd, shouted:"Welcome back!"

Clapping began, and soon a crowd gathered around the group. Children curiously approached Goofy and Donald. Goofy waved enthusiastically at them; Donald tried to avoid eye-contact with them (he wasn't an expert with children; he was very annoyed by 14-year-old Sora the first time he met him).

Sora's father walked up to Riku, and mused at his son's best friends' dramatic growth. He shook Riku's hand, and smiled at Kairi. Then he looked at King Mickey. With his arm around his son's shoulders, he nodded his head in greeting to the small King. Both adults looked at each other, and in that look, Sora's father was able to understand that Sora's disappearance was not in vain.

"Thank you."

¤

"Sora, you know it's going to be harder to see your mom again than you think," Sora's father explained. The two made their down the path to their respected neighborhood; King Mickey and Riku had left the group a few moments before, and Kairi was being escorted to her home by Tidus, Wakka and Selphie, where they would help her explain her brief disappearance. Donald and Goofy followed Sora, staying a few feet behind him and his father.

"Wh-what d'you mean?" Sora asked nervously.

"Well, you need to do some explaining yourself," his father said. "After the Islands were restored, you and Riku weren't here. But… we didn't notice the disappearance until not too long ago." He looked at his son for some sort of understanding.

Sora remained quiet, not just because he now knew his parents forgot about him, but because he couldn't explain it himself. He had suddenly awoken in a strange, glass pod and he had woken up 1 year older. How and why he ended up in there was still a mystery.

"You're mother asked everyone: Kairi, Tidus… no one knew. Just…know she's not going to take your return lightly."

"_Will she be mad at me? Maybe, disappointed? Or will she just be relieved?" _Sora kept his eyes to the ground for the rest of the walk. Although his mother was a strong person, she was also a mother, and though Sora was no mother, he understood she must have suffered a lot to ponder the whereabouts of her son.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and Sora looked up, surprising himself as shock overflowed him. His house, his home, stood in front of him. He hadn't expected to arrive so soon. Sora stopped in his tracks, his legs unable to carry him past the hedgerows.

Goofy walked up behind Sora and placed his hand on the boys shoulder. Sora looked at him, and received an encouraging smile from Goofy. He nodded, and stepped forward, still hesitantly, and went to join his father, who had just opened the door.

"Honey, I think you should come down here," he called out into the house, and held the door open.

Just feet away from the door, Sora's knees buckled. _"Why am I so scared?!"_ he hysterically thought to himself.

Goofy heard footsteps from inside the house, and moments later, watched the young woman appear in the doorway. There was no mistaking this woman as Sora's mother: the same familiar sapphire eyes looked curiously over the group. Her eyes, however, seemed to lack the brightness that Sora's held; they were filled with deep sorrow and longing.

The mother's eyes finally landed on the teenager. She gazed at him sadly, refusing to believe that this young man was her son. Sora gazed right back, determined to convince his mom that he was home, that it was truly him, that this wasn't a hoax or a dream.

But as the mother continued to gaze at Sora, it began to sink in: he wasn't dispersing into thin air, as her dreams had depicted him doing so too many times. She slowly walked up to him, taking in the sight of the teen. Although his clothing was dark, he still carried that aura of happiness and joy, and at the moment, fear and doubt. She reached out and touched his cheek, and he closed his eyes and smiled at the touch of his mother's warmth.

"Sora!" she cried. With tears blurring in her eyes, she opened her arms in a welcoming hug. Sora gladly accepted it, clinging close to his mother, trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to go away.

Sora and his mother looked at his father, and both invited him to join the reunion hug. _"It's funny how much family affects you,"_ Sora thought as his parents clung onto him.

"I'm really here. I'm home," said Sora.

His dad ruffled Sora's hair, and his mom smoothed out Sora's jacket and straightened out his crown pendant that she had given to him so long ago. Smiling warmly and with sarcastic sternness, she looked at her son.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young man," she said.

Sora smiled. "I promise to tell you everything, _if _you promise to believe me."

¤

"_How does it feel to be back, Sora?"_

"_I won't say it's not weird, but it's great"_

"_You know… Kairi told me what you did for her."_

"_Huh?"_

"_She told me you gave up your heart to save her."_

"_Oh. She told you about that?"_

"_Yeah, that's so brave, Sora! Weren't you scared?"_

"_Yeah, but it needed to be done, I needed to save Kairi- stop that Selphie!"_

"_How cute, you're blushing!"_

"_I am not!"_

Sora woke up recalling the conversation he had with Selphie the day before. He knew Kairi would confide in Selphie about Sora's actions to protect her. He also knew that he really _had_ blushed, and felt his ace grow hot remembering.

He sat up from his bed and looked out his window towards the Island. He ha been home a week, and things were still awkward. He hadn't gone back to the Island in the week he was there; he was always with Riku and Kairi either in his house or at Riku's, since both did not want to be too far from their parents.

It had proven a lot more difficult than anticipated to explain what had happened in the past year and a half but both Sora's and Riku's parents listened intently to their sons and other-world friends. King Mickey had explained the situation to Kairi's adoptive parents as well, the Mayor of Destiny Island and his wife, as well, and asked him to tell the people to not bother the teenagers about their disappearance.

Although the townsfolk kept their endless questions shut up, they continued to stare when either teenager, or all three, walked by. Sora found it a bit unnerving, but he couldn't really blame them; knowing himself, he probably would've acted the same. Acquaintances still walked up to him, though, and commented on how much they he and Riku had grown, and how much they had been missed. A friend of his mothers had told Sora that the Island's were a lot quieter and emptier without him and Riku running around, challenging one another.

Sora looked at the clock on the wall. It was unusually early, for him anyway. Still, he was not tired or drowsy, _"and I owe a visit to my Island."_ So Sora pulled off his blankets, and went to his closet.

The second day after his return, it became much too apparent that he had grown way too much, and none of the clothes that remained in his closet had any hope of fitting comfortably again (with perhaps the exception of his always outrageously-oversized shoes). His mother had left for a few hours, and come back with a new wardrobe of clothing for Sora.

However, he rummaged through the closet until he found the small cardboard box that held his special clothing given to him by the Three Good Fairies. He didn't know why, but he just felt like wearing them.

He dressed, grabbed his crown pendant and quietly made his way down the stairs, outside and towards the beach. The morning was beautiful and warm, and as he prepared his rowboat in the water, the shopkeepers alongside the beach were opening their shops and stalls. Sora rowed his little boat, content, calm and peaceful, with nothing particular on his mind. _"Maybe things are going back to normal."_

As he arrived at the small dock on the Island, Sora noticed a figure sitting on the paopu tree. Squinting, he saw that it was Riku. He jogged towards the hut, ran up the stairway, and walked out onto the bridge that led to the smaller island on which the paopu stood.

Riku sat serenely, looking out onto the horizon, reminding Sora of the days when he had dreamed of leaving the Islands. Sora jogged up to the paopu, lept over it, and leaned back against it, his arms behind his back.

For a moment, neither spoke, then Riku broke the silence.

"Nothing's changed, huh?"

Sora shook his head. "Nope. Nothing will."

Riku grunted lightly. "What a small world."

"But… part of one that's _much_ bigger."

A comfortable silence came about again as both gazed at the rising sun. Then it was Sora's turn to break the silence.

"Hey Riku, what do you think it was, the Door to Light?"

Riku laughed and hopped off the tree. He looked at Sora, and tapped Sora's chest.

"This."

Sora looked down: Riku had pointed at his heart. "This?"

"Yeah," Riku nodded. "It's always closer than you think."

Sora looked back up, and smiled.

"Sora! Riku!"

Both turned around to see Kairi running furiously towards them. She stopped before them and doubled over, trying to catch her breath.

"Hey…what's up?"

Still trying to catch her breath, Kairi looked up.

"L-look."

She held out a clear, glass bottle. Inside was a tightly rolled piece of paper. And on the paper was the unmistakable seal of King Mickey.

"From the King?!" Sora said, grabbing the bottle, uncorking it, and pulling out the letter.

He quickly unrolled it and began to read it, feeling Riku and Kairi nudge up against him, reading the letter beside him.

_The End._

* * *

So here it is my first fan fiction!

I hope you enjoyed it…comments will help make future fics more enjoyable!!


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